In new podcast, Joan Williams explains why we’re clueless about class

The United States is sometimes described as a class-free society — a view not shared by Joan Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Hastings Foundation Chair and Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the UC Hastings College of Law.

Williams, also the author of White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America, argues that misconceptions about class — in particular how the “professional elite” class misunderstands and condescends to the middle, working class — explains much that is wrong with the country.

We asked the 2017 Uncharted speakers to recommend books, films and actions to follow up on the issues they raised in Berkeley in October. Check out their suggestions.

In October 2017, Williams sat down with media innovator Peter Leyden at Berkeleyside’s fifth annual Uncharted Berkeley Festival of Ideas in Berkeley to deliver some hard truths about class bias and friction, and how it relates to our current political landscape.